Method and device for embedding event notification into multimedia content

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatuses for embedding event notification into multimedia content being reproduced on an electronic device are provided herein. The method may include causing reproduction of multimedia content on said electronic device, detecting an event that requires notification of a user of said electronic device and responsive thereto applying a modification to said reproduction of said multimedia content, according to said event, wherein said modification achieves a user-perceivable variation in said reproduced multimedia content.

The present invention relates to a method and device for embedding anotification about an event into multimedia content, wherein saidcontent is reproduced on an electronic device. It particularly relatesto modifying a reproduced audio content responsive to an incoming callon a mobile communication device.

PRIOR ART

In conventional mobile phones and like devices incoming calls or similarevents are indicated to the user by interrupting any currentlyreproduced multimedia content. A very common example would be a userlistening to an mp3-track with his mobile phone when a call comes in. Inconventional phones the mp3-track will be interrupted immediately andthe ring tone or alert tone of the phone will be sounded.

This can be rather disturbing for a user, as the listening experience isabruptly destroyed. Imagine a user taking a nip on his lunch break,listening to some nice relaxing tune. Suddenly switching to the ringtone in such a situation can be rather annoying, particularly when thering tone is anything but relaxing, say some heavy metal song.

Therefore a common way of dealing with such situations would be simplyturning off the ring tone at all. This is of course unacceptable, as itwill most certainly lead to the user missing any incoming call ormessage, even if it is urgent.

There is an increasing market for mobile phones with music playerfunctionality. This in turn entails that many people will spend timelistening to music with their mobile phones. When an incoming call orlike occurs the phone has to notify the user about this event. It shouldbe apparent that in a music-enabled terminal device abruptlyinterrupting the music with an alert tone, or simply playing an alerttone on top of the (then background) music is not a preferable method.

The above mentioned problem also applies to other multimedia contentother than music, for example to a computer game played on a game decklike the Nokia N-Gage®. It will be rather frustrating for a user when heis in an important stage of the game and is then distracted by anyalarm, ring tone or like. Such distraction can be so disturbing that theplayer will actually fail at an important moment of the game. Imagine aplayer attempting to perform some jump requiring his full attention inorder not to fall off a cliff, or a player in a first person shooterwaiting for an opponent to appear behind a corner. The player might missthe jump or be surprised by his opponent when being distracted by a ringtone, which is apparently unwanted.

It is even conceivable that an unexpectedly played ring tone or likemight cause dangerous reactions of the distracted user in real-lifesituations, leading to injuries of the user. However, it is much morelikely that a user will accidentally drop a mobile device in such asituation, which can at least lead to damaging the device.

It is previously known that the music is faded out before the ring toneis actually played. While this can help to reduce the level of thedisturbance caused by the interruption it does not really solve theproblem of such event-triggered interruptions. It particularly does notenable a user to “ignore” the incoming call or like when he is currentlynot willing to answer. In the manner just described he will instead beforced to restart the reproduction of the audio track after havingrefused the call.

Therefore there is an apparent need for a method and a device forperforming a notification of a user of an electronic device aboutcertain events, wherein the notification is embedded within currentlyreproduced multimedia content to avoid any distractions of the user. Itis an object of the invention to provide means for ensuring that a userof an electronic device will be informed about any important event,while the user is still enabled to “ignore” the notification easilyenough if he is not willing to let him be distracted at the moment. Hecan then take care of the notified event later, maybe after havingfinished listening to the current audio title, having finished watchinga TV show or after having finished a particular level of a computergame.

According to an aspect a method for embedding event notification intomultimedia content being reproduced on an electronic device is provided.The method comprises

-   -   reproducing multimedia content on the electronic device;    -   detecting an event requiring notification of a user of the        electronic device; and responsive thereto    -   applying a modification to the reproduction of the multimedia        content, according to the event, wherein the modification        achieves a user-perceivable variation in the reproduced        multimedia content.

The presented invention enables subtle yet clearly audible notificationof certain events by adapting multimedia content that is currentlyreproduced, e.g. a music title playing. The user is notified but is notdistracted by the notification. The modification must be noticeable,i.e. distinguishable from “normal” music effects, but still not toodisturbing.

In an exemplary embodiment the multimedia content comprises audiocontent, and the modification comprises at least one of

-   -   amplitude modulation;    -   pitch modulation;    -   tempo modulation;    -   adding a reverb effect to the audio content;    -   manipulating an existing reverb effect of the audio content, and    -   adding a stereo or surround effect to the audio content.

As will be described in the detailed description there are various waysof performing an audible notification, wherein the above mentioned onesare easy to implement, but provide an effective modification.

In an exemplary embodiment the modification comprises

-   -   analyzing properties of the audio content;    -   adapting a notification-related audio content according to the        analyzed properties; and    -   adding the adapted notification-related audio content to the        reproduction of the audio content.

In order to ensure that a notification-related audio content like a ringtone, alert tone or similar fits harmonically into the currentlyreproduced audio content, it is necessary to analyze certain propertiesof the audio content, to be able to adapt the notification-related audiocontent to those properties.

In an exemplary embodiment the analyzed properties comprise at least oneof

-   -   the tempo of the audio content;    -   the pitch of the audio content;    -   the volume of the audio content; and    -   the spectral distribution of the audio content.

These properties are the most essential features of a music track andare thus important for the analyzing.

In an exemplary embodiment adapting the notification-related audiocontent comprises

-   -   calculating a masking curve of the audio content; and    -   adapting the level of the notification-related audio content to        exceed the masking curve by a pre-determined value.

This ensures that the notification-related audio content will be audiblecompared to the background music, as its level will so exceed thebackground enough to be audible, however, not be too prevailing.

In an exemplary embodiment the multimedia content comprises videocontent, and wherein the modification comprises adding a visualnotification to the video content, according to the event. The inventionis not restricted to a use with audio content, but can as well beapplied to any video, that is, visual content.

In an exemplary embodiment, the visual notification comprises amanipulation of at least one of

-   -   the color of the video content;    -   the brightness of the video content; and    -   the contrast of the video content.

These are the very basic parameters of a video content and are thus easyto manipulate, while an effective variation can be achieved by suitablemanipulation thereof.

In an exemplary embodiment the method comprises

-   -   analyzing the video content to detect contiguous faces        comprising a substantially uniform color; and    -   adding the visual notification within the detected faces.

According to this embodiment, faces can be detected that allow for aneasy addition of the visual notification, which can e.g. be a textindicating an incoming call. In order for such text to be visible it isadvantageous to add it to such faces that comprise a substantiallyuniform color, which can therefore serve as a background for thenotification.

In an exemplary embodiment, the multimedia content is a computer game,and the modification comprises a manipulation and/or generation of gameobjects according to the event. Computer games are a further example ofmultimedia content that can advantageously be altered by the presentinvention, responsive to an event requiring a notification.

In an exemplary embodiment, the computer game uses textures, and themanipulation comprises exchanging textures with textures representing avisual notification according to the event. Many modern computer gamesmake use of so-called graphic engines, wherein the actual appearances ofobjects are essentially affected by the use of textures. By manipulatingsuch textures, which is an easy task, an effective implementation ofnotification can be provided. Such exchanging does not put a lot ofprocessing stress onto a CPU of a mobile device as well.

In an exemplary embodiment, the event is an incoming call or an incomingmessage. These are the most prominent events requiring a usernotification that can occur on a mobile communication device like amultimedia-enabled mobile phone. Messages can be SMS, MMS, incomingemails, instant messenger messages or like.

In an exemplary embodiment the method further comprises

-   -   terminating the modification of the reproduction of the        multimedia content when the incoming call is hung up or refused.

It should be apparent that the modification is only performed as long asthe event is still occurring. In advanced embodiments it is alsopossible to terminate even when an event is still occurring, e.g. aftera pre-set time span, in order not to disturb a user who is obviously notwilling to deal with the event right now.

In an exemplary embodiment, the event is a change in an operationcondition of the electronic device. Important changes in certainoperation conditions are other examples of events that might require auser interaction and should thus be notified to him. Such can e.g. be ifa mobile phone leaves the coverage area of a mobile network, leading tothe subscriber not being reachable.

In an exemplary embodiment, the electronic device is a battery-powereddevice and wherein the change in an operation condition is the batterycapacity falling below a predetermined threshold. This is a very usefulfeature for mobile devices with a limited energy supply. It is necessaryto inform the user about the fact that the battery capacity is nearlyexhausted, for example to give him the opportunity to stop a runningcomputer game in order not to lose the chance of receiving an awaitedcall or like.

According to another aspect, a computer program product is provided,comprising program code means stored on a computer readable medium forcarrying out the method of the invention when the program product is runon a computer or network device.

According to yet another aspect, a computer program product comprisingprogram code is provided, downloadable from a server for carrying outthe method of the invention when the program product is run on acomputer or network device.

According to still another aspect, an electronic device for embeddingevent notification into multimedia content being reproduced thereon isprovided. The device comprises

-   -   a content source component adapted for providing a multimedia        content;    -   a reproduction component adapted for reproducing the multimedia        content;    -   a modification component connected with the reproduction        component; and    -   an event detection component connected with the modification        component, the event detection component being adapted for        detecting events requiring a notification of a user of the        electronic device;        wherein the modification component is adapted for applying a        modification to the reproduced multimedia content, responsive to        the detection component detecting an event, and wherein the        modification achieves a user-perceivable variation in the        reproduced multimedia content.

Such a device is required to obtain the advantages explained above. Thecontent source can be for example a music player hardware with anexchangeable storage medium like a MMC-card, an FM tuner, or an analogor digital video receiver like DVB-T or like. The reproduction componentcan comprise any suitable combination of loudspeaker, earphones, anddisplays.

In an exemplary embodiment, the multimedia content comprises audiocontent, and the modification comprises at least one of

-   -   amplitude modulation;    -   pitch modulation;    -   tempo modulation;    -   adding a reverb effect to the audio content;    -   manipulating an existing reverb effect of the audio content; and    -   adding a stereo or surround effect to the audio content.

In an exemplary embodiment, the multimedia content comprises audiocontent, and the device further comprises

-   -   an analyzing component connected with the modification        component, adapted for analyzing properties of the audio        content; and    -   a storage component for storing notification-related audio        content;        wherein the modification component is adapted for adapting the        stored notification-related audio content according to the        analyzed properties; and for adding the adapted        notification-related audio content to the reproduction of the        audio content.

In an exemplary embodiment, the modification component is adapted forcalculating a masking curve of the audio content; and for adapting thelevel of the notification-related audio content to exceed the maskingcurve by a pre-determined value.

In an exemplary embodiment, the multimedia content comprises videocontent, and wherein the modification component is adapted for adding avisual notification to the video content, according to the event.

In an exemplary embodiment, the modification component is adapted forperforming a manipulation of at least one of

-   -   color,    -   brightness,    -   contrast        of the video content, according to the event.

In an exemplary embodiment, the modification component is adapted foranalyzing the video content to detect contiguous faces comprising asubstantially uniform color; and adding the visual notification withinthe detected faces.

In an exemplary embodiment, the multimedia content is a computer game,and wherein the modification component is adapted for performing amanipulation and/or generation of game objects according to the event.

In an exemplary embodiment, the computer game uses textures, and whereinthe manipulation component is adapted for exchanging textures withtextures representing a visual notification according to the event.

In an exemplary embodiment, the event detection component is adapted fordetecting an incoming call or an incoming message.

In an exemplary embodiment, the modification component is furtheradapted for terminating the modification of the reproduction of themultimedia content when the incoming call is hung up or refused.

In an exemplary embodiment, the event detection component is adapted fordetecting a change in an operation condition of the electronic device.

In an exemplary embodiment the electronic device is a battery-powereddevice and wherein said event detection component is adapted fordetecting when the battery capacity falls below a predeterminedthreshold.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will subsequently be described in detail, and withreference top the attached drawings, which are intended only asnon-limiting illustrative examples of preferred embodiments, and inwhich

FIG. 1 is a graph displaying an amplitude modulation according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart depicting steps of an embodiment of the method ofthe invention; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the device according to an embodiment ofthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With the new mp3-capable mobile devices or like a situation will becomemore and more common wherein a user listens to some stored music on hismobile device when an incoming call shall be alerted. Instead ofstopping the music and playing the ring tone as conventional, the musicis not interrupted, but modified in a certain way, e.g. by changing theloudness or pitch of the music. Alternatively, the ring tone can bemixed into the music. However, this is done in a way that adapts thering tone to the played music: e.g. the tempo or pitch is adapted tomatch the musical key of the ring tone to that of the currently playedmusic, so that the ring tone will fit harmonically into the playedmusic.

The basic idea of the invention is that the currently played music pieceis altered in a noticeable and meaningful way instead of simply playingsome alert tone. For incoming call this can mean that no ring tone isactually played, but the currently playing title continues withnoticeable amplitude modulation, pitch tremolo, added synchronizedpercussion or such.

In FIG. 1 a simple yet effective embodiment of the method according tothe invention is depicted. The figure illustrates a graph showing theamplitude (y-axis) and the time index (x-axis) of a sample audio contentbeing reproduced on some electronic device. This represents the case ofa user listening to an audio title. The utilized units are to beunderstood as arbitrarily. On the left of the graph the unmodified audiosample is shown, comprising a certain average amplitude value. When acall comes in the modification according to the invention is applied tothe audio content (here at sample index of about 0.8-0.9). In thisfigure a sinusoidal modulation of the amplitude of the audio content isshown. However, as will emerge from the later detailed description,there are many other ways of performing this modification.

The user will easily notice the variations in the amplitude. In theexample depicted here it is shown that the user actually answers thecall (about sample index 2). The audio content will now be faded out inorder to allow a handling of the incoming call. However, it is naturallypossible for the user to refuse to answer the call. He can then eithermanually refuse it; or in some embodiments a time span can bepre-programmed after which the modification of the audio content will beterminated irrespective of the user's behavior. If the caller does hangup, this also leads to the modification being terminated.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart depicting essential steps of the method of theinvention. In step 102 the procedure starts, e.g. a user turns on hismobile device. In step 104 a multimedia content is being reproduced,that is, e.g. the user turns on the music player of his device andstarts listening to an mp3 track or like. During the reproduction it isdetected, in step 106, if an event occurs which will require notifyingthe user thereof. Such event can be various events, which will beexplained in more detail later on. In a very common case it will be anincoming voice call.

Responsive to the occurrence of the event the modification of themultimedia content will be performed according to the invention, in step108. The user is now notified about the incoming event by theaccordingly performed modification of the currently playing content(which is assumed to be an audio content here, but can be other kinds ofmultimedia content as will be described later). Therefore it isdetermined, in step 110, if the user does handle the event, that is,e.g. answers the incoming call. In that case the process is continuedwith step 112, wherein the audio content is faded out, as alreadydescribed in conjunction with FIG. 1. It is also possible that the userwill refuse the call (not depicted here), which will lead to themodification being terminated and normal playback is then resumed.

If the user does not react the procedure will continue in step 114 witha check if the event that is to be notified to the user does stilloccur. For example it may be the case that a caller of an incoming callhas hung up. Another possibility is that an incoming SMS or othermessage caused the modification. In such a case it will be sufficient toperform the modification for limited time only, and automatically stopit after that. In both cases, that is, the event has ended, the processcontinues with step 116, with the termination of the modification, andreturns to step 104.

If in step 114 it is detected that the event still occurs, that is, e.g.the caller is still trying to reach the user, it is checked if apre-determined time span has elapsed (in step 118). If a user does notreact within a reasonable time span to the notification it is likelythat he is not able and/or willing to deal with the event right now. Inthis case it will be advantageous to end the modification automaticallyafter a reasonable time span. The process then moves from step 118 tostep 116 and is continued as already described.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing essential components of a deviceaccording to the invention. In the figure this device is shown as amobile phone, however, there are many other (mobile) electronic devicespossible within the scope of the invention, like PDAs or smartphones.The device comprises a content source 202 for providing multimediacontent. This can for example be an MMC-slot for receiving an MMC card204 on which a number of mp3 tracks are stored, a hard disk drive orinternal flash memory. The content source can also be any othermultimedia content source, for example a DVB-T receiver, some othervideo content source, or also a hardware for providing a computer game.

The device further comprises at least one reproduction component,whereof here three typical examples are depicted, that is, a loudspeaker206 and a set of earphones 208 for reproducing audio content, and adisplay unit 210 for reproducing visual content in any suitable form.Such reproduction components can naturally be combined, like earphonesand display for watching a video and listening to the respective audio.An event detection component 214 is provided, which is adapted fordetecting events like incoming calls, messages, changes indevice-related operating conditions like leaving the coverage area of amobile network, or the battery level dropping below a threshold. Thedetection component 214 is thus only depicted schematically here, inpractice it can be partly of fully integrated into the hardware of thedevice (main controller or like).

This detection component 214 is connected with a modification component212, which responds to any occurring event by performing an accordingmodification the multimedia output. To achieve this it is connected withone or all of the reproduction components 206, 208, 210. Depending onthe particular embodiment the modification component 212 is eitherconnected as an additional module, or it is used to loop any multimediacontent through it. In the latter case the modification component 212will comprise at least two modes, one in which all content is loopedthrough without any modification at all, and one in which themodification is performed on the content. Looping through all contentwill particularly apply to the cases wherein the modification component212 is partly implemented in a DSP or other processing hardware that isused for other purposes in the electronic device as well.

There are different ways of performing the modification according to thepresent invention. For an audio track the following modifications areconceivable, though it will be understood that the present invention isnot limited to them:

-   -   Performing a volume modulation to the left and the right channel        (assuming that the music is reproduced by a stereo headset or        like), such that minimal/maximal volume is alternatingly reached        in the left channel and the right channel. That is, for the        listener it will appear as the music source is shifting from        left to right channel and back again.    -   Performing a sinusoidal volume modulation (“wave-like” effect)    -   Gain modulation (tremolo)    -   Pitch modulation (vibrato)    -   Performing filtering like flanger, reverb or like    -   Changing the 3D positioning (sound source changing from left to        right/front to back/circling around the listener)    -   Performing an A-B repetition of a portion of the title (like        last 3 seconds or like)    -   Adding a percussion that is synchronized with the track being        played back (beat-synchronized drum sequence or like)

As an alternative the regular ring tone can be “mixed into” thecurrently played title, that is, the regular ring tone is adjusted tofit certain characteristics of the current title. This will entail e.g.to adjust the tempo of the ring tone. The ring tone is then played “ontop” of the current title. It is also possible to “blend in” the ringtone without interruption; that is, adapting the ring tone to thecurrently played title and then smoothly blending in the ring tone andblending out the current audio track. If the user rejects an incomingcall or otherwise indicates that he is not willing to deal with thenotified event right now this can naturally be done vice versa. In orderto achieve that, it is essential to analyze the characteristics of atitle that is currently being played back.

The information that may thus be gained about the music may include:

-   -   timbral or spectral data    -   temporal or metrical information, such as the beats    -   pitch information, such as pitch chroma.    -   loudness

A pitch chroma is a “sound class vector”. Other psycho-acousticproperties can be used in order to make the notification both clearlynoticeable but not disturbing. For example a masking curve can easily bedetermined according to known procedures, and the level of a mixed-inring tone can then be adjusted to just exceed this mask curve by apre-determined value. The metrical information can be used to adjust thetempo of a ring or alert tone. It is also possible to transpose alerttones to the same key as a currently played title.

As an example, signal processing can be applied to the music thatseparate the drum sounds from the melodic sounds. Now, one example ofcall notification is to filter out the melodic sounds at the time of anincoming call, and to apply a different melody on top of the percussionsfrom the background song. This way the temporal structure of the musicflow would remain intact (and it is possible to resume the music withouta corresponding interruption of the flow when a call has been refused orhung up), but the call would be clearly audible. In advanced embodimentsone could e.g. have a rap sequence inserted like “Yo, you have a call,answer now!” that is played in tempo sync with the percussions from theoriginal song. It is within the scope of the present invention to have anumber of such stored notification audio samples. It is thus possible tostore a variety of different such samples for a wide number of types ofmusic, like certain drum sequences, guitar/saxophone solos or othersuitable musical pieces, or variations of the above mentioned rapsample, that is, small voice announcement belonging to different musicgenres.

In another aspect of the invention the ring tone is played on top of themusic playing on the background. However, the ring tone melody is tunedaccording to the characteristics of the music playing in the background.This can mean e.g. adjusting the tempo of the ring tone to be the sameas the tempo of the music playing on the background, and starting thealert tone at a time instant corresponding to the start of a bar in thebackground music. As an example a beat-synchronized drum sequence can beplayed on top of the background music.

As an example, information on the sound timbre and loudness can be usedto tune the alert tone such that it will be audible, but not too much tocause a disturbance. For example, a masking curve can be calculated fromthe spectrum of the background music, and the level of the alert toneadjusted such that it just exceeds the masking threshold. The metricalinformation of the background music is used to adjust the alert tone tothe tempo of the background music. Alert tones could also be transposedto the same key as the background music.

There are a number of events the present invention can be used to notifythe user of. Without constituting any restriction of the invention thesemight be:

-   -   incoming voice call    -   incoming SMS message, email, MMS or like    -   device status related events, like battery level dropping below        safety threshold, mobile phone leaving/entering coverage area of        a mobile network    -   pre-programmed alarm events, like mother's birthday, deadlines,        appointments coming up etc.

It is of course possible with the present invention to allocatedifferent urgency profiles to certain events, and to select a“noticeability” value accordingly (see e.g., block 107 of FIG. 2). Forexample an incoming SMS could have allocated a low priority, meaningthat a notification is performed for a short time only and with lowernoticeability (see e.g., blocks 106, 107, and 108 of FIG. 2). Anincoming phone call could have allocated a higher priority such that thenotification is played back as long as the user reacts. The event of thebattery level falling below a pre-set level can be allocated anotherpriority, selected according to the user's wishes.

In some cases, it is desirable to make the alert tones more audible. Forexample, if the user has urgency profiles for the contacts in his/herphonebook the most urgent incoming calls would be notified with moreaudible alert tones. It would be desirable to implement the alertingmethod such that the more urgent the incoming call is the more audibleis the alert tone. That is, callers with low priority would be notifiedwith barely audible modifications to the background music, whereascallers with high priority are alerted with major modifications to thebackground music.

The method of the invention can be applied to any alert tones inelectronic device for reproducing multimedia content of some kind. Forexample, reporting a lowering battery level could be done by pitchshifting downwards the music playing on the background. This would bequite intuitive to a user as it appears as if the power is draining outsince the music is getting slower and low-pitched, as it did actuallyhappen in former tape-based audio players.

While the invention has been described mainly in conjunction withplaying back music it can as well be applied to any other multimediacontent being reproduced on an electronic device. Conceivable multimedia contents may include a video/TV broadcast (e.g. one of theupcoming DVB standards for mobile devices) or a computer game.

The invention can be extended to modifying several other kinds ofmultimedia content as well. For example when watching TV on a mobilehandset the sound could be modified (as described above) or, when nomusic is present, the voice tone of a speaker could beimitated/synthesized to announce the call alert. Likewise, the imagecontents can be modified, e.g. by writing a notification of the call toa wall (or any other larger area containing substantially the samecolor) in the TV program. The same applies to other applications aswell, e.g. gaming. A game character could be generated or manipulated tospeak to a user and announce the call, or a message can be written on awall (by manipulating the respective textures) informing the user aboutthe incoming call.

Also a computer game running on an electronic device can be modified invarious ways, including performing any audio and/or video modificationas already described above. Other possibilities are to change certainwall textures to be replaced by a suitably adapted text notification,e.g. mimicking a graffiti reading “call for you” or like. Depending onthe gaming environment it may also be possible to introduce a phone boxinto the gaming environment, and to offer the player to use this phonebox to answer a call/pause the game.

An additional character can be introduced into the game, like a guywalking by saying that a phone call is waiting for the user. A plane canbe added transporting a banner reading “SMS received”. An advertisementon a bus driving can be altered to read “remember mom's birthday” orlike. There are many ways the skilled person will be aware of for moreor less subtly altering a gaming environment to perform a notificationaccording to the invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: causing reproductionof multimedia content on an electronic device; detecting an event thatrequires notification of a user of said electronic device; andresponsive thereto applying a modification to said reproduction of saidmultimedia content, according to said event, wherein the modification isbased at least in part on the event and the multimedia content beingreproduced, wherein said modification comprises embedding auser-perceivable variation in said reproduced multimedia content withoutinterrupting the reproduction of the multimedia content, wherein, in aninstance in which the multimedia content comprises audio content, saidmodification comprises at least one of: amplitude modulation; pitchmodulation; tempo modulation; adding a reverb effect to said audiocontent; manipulating an existing reverb effect of said audio content,or adding a stereo or surround effect to said audio content.
 2. Methodaccording to claim 1, wherein, in an instance in which the multimediacontent comprises audio content, said modification comprises: analyzingproperties of said audio content; adapting a notification-related audiocontent according to said analyzed properties; and adding the adaptednotification-related audio content to said reproduction of said audiocontent.
 3. Method according to claim 2, wherein said analyzedproperties comprise at least one of the tempo of said audio content; thepitch of said audio content; the volume of said audio content; or thespectral distribution of said audio content.
 4. Method according toclaim 2, wherein adapting said notification-related audio contentcomprises calculating a masking curve of said audio content; andadapting the level of said notification-related audio content to exceedsaid masking curve by a pre-determined value.
 5. Method according toclaim 1, wherein, in an instance in which the multimedia contentcomprises video content, said modification comprises adding a visualnotification to said video content, according to said event.
 6. Methodaccording to claim 5, wherein said visual notification comprises amanipulation of at least one of the color of said video content; thebrightness of said video content; or the contrast of said video content.7. Method according to claim 5, wherein, in an instance in which themultimedia content comprises video content, said modification comprises:analyzing said video content to detect contiguous faces comprising asubstantially uniform color; and adding said visual notification withinsaid detected faces.
 8. Method according to claim 1, wherein, in aninstance in which said multimedia content comprises a computer game,said modification comprises a manipulation and/or generation of gameobjects according to said event.
 9. Method according to claim 8, whereinsaid computer game uses textures, and wherein said manipulationcomprises exchanging textures with textures representing a visualnotification according to said event.
 10. Method according to claim 1,wherein said event is an incoming call or an incoming message. 11.Method according to claim 10, further comprising terminating saidmodification of said reproduction of said multimedia content when saidincoming call is hung up or refused.
 12. Method according to claim 1,wherein said event is a change in an operation condition of saidelectronic device.
 13. Method according to claim 12, wherein saidelectronic device is a battery-powered device and wherein said change inan operation condition is the battery capacity falling below apredetermined threshold.
 14. Computer program product comprising anon-transitory computer readable medium having program code portionsstored thereon, the program code portions being configured when run on acomputer or network device, to: cause reproduction of multimedia contenton an electronic device; detect an event that requires notification of auser of said electronic device; and responsive thereto apply amodification to said reproduction of said multimedia content, accordingto said event, wherein the modification is based at least in part on theevent and the multimedia content being reproduced, wherein saidmodification comprises embedding a user-perceivable variation in saidreproduced multimedia content without interrupting the reproduction ofthe multimedia content, wherein, in an instance in which the multimediacontent comprises audio content, said modification comprises at leastone of: amplitude modulation; pitch modulation; tempo modulation; addinga reverb effect to said audio content; manipulating an existing reverbeffect of said audio content, or adding a stereo or surround effect tosaid audio content.
 15. An apparatus comprising a processor and a memoryincluding computer program code, the memory and the computer programcode configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: causereproduction of multimedia content on an electronic device; detect anevent that requires notification of a user of said electronic device;and responsive thereto apply a modification to said reproducedmultimedia content, according to said event, wherein the modification isbased at least in part on the event and the multimedia content beingreproduced, and wherein said modification comprises embedding auser-perceivable variation in said reproduced multimedia content withoutinterrupting the reproduction of the multimedia content, wherein, in aninstance in which the multimedia content comprises audio content, saidmodification comprises at least one of: amplitude modulation; pitchmodulation; tempo modulation; adding a reverb effect to said audiocontent; manipulating an existing reverb effect of said audio content,or adding a stereo or surround effect to said audio content.
 16. Theapparatus according to claim 15, wherein, in an instance in which saidmultimedia content comprises audio content, the memory and the computerprogram code are further configured to, with the processor, cause theapparatus to: cause analyzing of properties of said audio content; andcause adapting of notification-related audio content according to saidanalyzed properties; and cause adding of the adaptednotification-related audio content to said reproduction of said audiocontent.
 17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the memory andthe computer program code are further configured to, with the processor,cause the apparatus to calculate a masking curve of said audio content;and cause adapting of the level of said notification-related audiocontent to exceed said masking curve by a predetermined value.
 18. Theapparatus according to claim 15, wherein, in an instance in which saidmultimedia content comprises video content, the memory and the computerprogram code are further configured to, with the processor, cause theapparatus to cause adding of a visual notification to said videocontent, according to said event.
 19. The apparatus according to claim18, wherein the memory and the computer program code are furtherconfigured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to causeperforming of a manipulation of at least one of color, brightness, orcontrast of said video content, according to said event.
 20. Theapparatus according to claim 18, wherein the memory and the computerprogram code are further configured to, with the processor, cause theapparatus to cause analyzing of said video content to detect contiguousfaces comprising a substantially uniform color; and cause adding of saidvisual notification within said detected faces.
 21. The apparatusaccording to claim 15, wherein, in an instance in which said multimediacontent comprises a computer game, the memory and the computer programcode are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatusto cause performing of a manipulation and/or generation of game objectsaccording to said event.
 22. The apparatus according to claim 21,wherein said computer game uses textures, and wherein the memory and thecomputer program code are further configured to, with the processor,cause the apparatus to cause exchanging of textures with texturesrepresenting a visual notification according to said event.
 23. Theapparatus according to claim 15, wherein the memory and the computerprogram code are further configured to, with the processor, cause theapparatus to detect an incoming call or an incoming message.
 24. Theapparatus according to claim 23, wherein the memory and the computerprogram code are further configured to, with the processor, cause theapparatus to cause terminating of said modification of said reproductionof said multimedia content when said incoming call is hung up orrefused.
 25. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the memory andthe computer program code are further configured to, with the processor,cause the apparatus to detect a change in an operation condition of saidelectronic device.
 26. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein saidelectronic device is a battery-powered device and wherein the memory andthe computer program code are further configured to, with the processor,cause the apparatus to detect when the battery capacity falls below apredetermined threshold.
 27. An apparatus comprising a processor and amemory including computer program code, the memory and the computerprogram code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:detect events requiring a notification of a user of an electronicdevice; and apply, in response to detecting an event, a modification tomultimedia content that is otherwise to be reproduced, wherein themodification is based at least in part on the event and the multimediacontent being reproduced, wherein the modification comprises embedding auser-perceivable variation in said multimedia content to be reproducedwithout interrupting the reproduction of the multimedia content,wherein, in an instance in which the multimedia content comprises audiocontent, said modification comprises at least one of: amplitudemodulation; pitch modulation; tempo modulation; adding a reverb effectto said audio content; manipulating an existing reverb effect of saidaudio content, or adding a stereo or surround effect to said audiocontent.
 28. A method comprising: causing reproduction of multimediacontent on an electronic device; detecting an event that requiresnotification of a user of said electronic device; determining a prioritylevel associated with the event; and applying a modification to saidreproduction of said multimedia content, according to said event,wherein the modification is based at least in part on the event, thedetermined priority level, and the multimedia content being reproduced,wherein said modification comprises embedding a user-perceivablevariation in said reproduced multimedia content without interrupting thereproduction of the multimedia content.
 29. An apparatus comprising: aprocessor; and a memory including computer program code, the memory andthe computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause:reproduction of multimedia content on an electronic device; detection ofan event that requires notification of a user of said electronic device;determination of a priority level associated with the event; andapplication of a modification to said reproduced multimedia content,according to said event, wherein the modification is based at least inpart on the event, the determined priority level, and the multimediacontent being reproduced, and wherein said modification comprisesembedding a user-perceivable variation in said reproduced multimediacontent without interrupting the reproduction of the multimedia content.